There is a proliferation of multi-ring, loose leaf binder designs with various shaped rings, ring sizes, number of rings and ring spacings. Paper is also available with a multiplicity of prepunched holes arranged to mate with the rings of a particular binder. On occasion, when additional paper having the prepunched holes is not available or the binder user needs to insert a special piece of paper, a multi-hole paper punch is usually employed to provide the desired number of holes in the paper.
Manually operated, multi-hole, paper punches have been commercially available for some time now. However, these punches are usually quite large and bulky and they do not lend themselves to be easily and conveniently stored and carried in small bookcases, briefcases and the like. Moreover, they can be difficult to use and are easily misplaced or lost.
Almost everyone who has used a loose leaf binder has at times been faced with the problem of inserting into the binder a page which does not include prepunched holes. It is customary in such instances to provide the required holes by simply pushing the paper over the ends of open binder rings. Such a method, while expedient, is ordinarily unreliable since the edge of the paper frequently tears or the holes are off center.
Another method used to provide the required holes is to mark the position of the holes on the paper and then pierce the paper at the market locations with a pencil or other sharp object. However, this method is also crude, unreliable and time consuming.
It is therefore an important object of this invention to provide a handy, reliable and easy to use, multi-hole, portable paper punch.
Another more specific object of this invention is to provide a novel combination of a multi-ring, loose leaf binder and a portable paper punch which can be stored and carried inside the binder and which can be easily and conveniently used without removing it from the binder.